Daws updates on team news and previews Torquay away

Iron interim manager Tony Daws has previewed this weekend's trip to take on Torquay United.

He began by speaking about the week gone by, saying: “It’s been a good week, and the players are taking on board what we’re saying and their application has been excellent. There are smiles on faces, everyone seems to be enjoying it, so it’s been good so far this week.”

Tony spoke about this weekends opposition, who suffered a heavy 6-0 defeat to Wrexham last weekend. He said: “It’s always a difficult game when the team has lost heavily the week before.

“Respect to them for what they are, but it’s about us, about how we address the game, and about our strategy in terms of carrying our game plan out. I have every belief in our players that we will go and do that, will be positive and try to win the game. We’ve got a plan, we’ve done a lot of work this week on what we do in possession and out of possession.” 

Talking further about the 3-2 home win over Dorking Wanderers last time out, Daws said: “I’m so proud of the players for how they came back last week. I told them that I wanted the same performance that we put in against York. We didn’t get that at the start, however, we had a chat at half time, and in the second half the lads were class.

“After the game last week everyone was so pleased, and I didn’t have much to say to the players other than ‘well done’. The second half against Dorking is our benchmark, I expect no less than that now. The way we played, the tempo, the quality, it was different class. That’s what I expect."

The boss went on to discuss how the team will prepare for Saturdays long trip south, adding: “We just have to go through the same procedures, the same pre-match preparation, but it is all about the players. Their application has been different class, so we won’t do anything different and we’ll approach the game in the same way. Hopefully, we can get a similar performance to the second half against Dorking,” 

Tony provided a fitness update on Aiden Marsh and Liam Feeney, who both came off last week. He said: “Marsh has been for an x-ray and a scan, so we’re just waiting for the results, but it’s not looking so good at the moment. He’s been with us this week, but our medical team will be speaking to Barnsley to work out what we’re going to do. Feeney unfortunately pulled his hamstring when he came on, and hamstrings are usually a minimum of six weeks.” 

The interim manager went on to speak about players returning from injury: “Kgosi Ntlhe is back and has been involved in the training pitch this week. He’s been great, he’s like a breath of fresh air, and he’s got bags of enthusiasm and good communication. Dan Gallimore is back as well which is good, he’s been out with a virus.” 

Tony finished by speaking about the fans support, continuing: “The fans were brilliant last week, they were really good. Rightly so, they were disappointed at half time, but at the end they stayed, applauded and encouraged the team.

“When the goals started going in, it ramped up, and the fans massively helped us. I just want to say thank you to everybody, we need you to get behind us like that in every match, even when things aren’t going so well, because I think things are starting to turn for us. For those who do travel down to Torquay, thank you in advance for making the journey, and hopefully we can do you proud.”

See more from Tony Daws and Jacob Butterfield on Iron Player.